


To See Yourself

by SaltySaph



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 23:43:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11702319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltySaph/pseuds/SaltySaph
Summary: A concept spit for how a Cyclops might receive their...'calling'. I'm apparently introducing the concept with a subversion. Awesome.





	To See Yourself

She stared at her ceiling. Her unruly curls sprawled across the pillow, across her mouth and tied knots in itself. As comfortable as her bed was, she could empathize with her hair. It was long past time for her to awaken but her alarm never rang. Today was her day off, her day to rest and enjoy the fruits of her labor- and she found herself paralyzed with indecision. She _wanted_ to be at work. She knew it. They had warned her this would happen, that the job would take over her ability to be herself, but she never imagined it would happen so soon. She turned her head and glanced through her hair at the lance in the corner of the room. Her hand remembered its rough wood and heavy spearhead. She grunted angrily at herself, rolled out of bed and threw on a long shirt. 

She blocked the lance out of her mind. She crossed the room to the window and pried it open from below. The Morning Glories of the City stretched from building to building, reaching over the lattices that hung above the street. She considered sending a message to Headquarters. Maybe coming in for an hour or two would soothe the itching in her fingers. She cradled a blossom in her fingers. She hesitated. There was plenty she had to do today; plenty of things she _wanted_ to do today. She was about to let the flower go when one of its leaves caught her eye. From the Morning Glory vine hung an Oak Leaf. She squinted at it. She didn’t give it much thought before plucking it from the vine, and it came off easily in her hand. 

She cradled it in her palm and it defied explanation. The leaf in her hand was...not exactly reflective and not quite transparent. It held a distorted image inside its faint layers. She held it up to the dawn to see it more clearly, but it still behaved like a reflection on clouded water. She looked around her room. Her vanity stood out to her. She brushed her feet over the hardwood floor to the cluttered desk and mirror. She lifted the leaf to her eyes and looked through it. 

_The image in the leaf layered over her own reflection and showed her a future. She was no longer just a guard, but a Lieutenant. She ruled over the city with a gentle soul and a firm hand. In the city behind her, mad souls raged up like wildflre. She stood between the wildfires and the people of her city, and all were safe standing behind her Decorated Glaive._

She lowered the leaf from her eyes. She took a steady breath. This wasn’t Empathic Magic like the rest of the Morning Glory vine. Was it Admiration? She didn’t exactly feel admired. Instead, it felt like a trap; baited by an ideal future. Most Illusions were from those who lived in Fear, but this didn’t frighten her either. She set the leaf down on the desk. She took a deep breath. Her lance called to her through her peripheral vision. She could see it shifting. She turned to face it- it was changing before her eyes. She shot a glance back at the leaf on the desk but it hadn’t moved. The air was moving. It felt electric, alive. She stared at her lance; under scrutiny she could see that it wasn’t visually changing but it’s...essence? It was becoming a different lance, a different energy that called her to rise to the challenge. 

_It is possible, you know._ The voice came from the leaf and the vine and the lance at once; and even so it felt like it came from within. _You are already the Lieutenant in your reflection. They just don’t see you yet._  
Speaking out into the room to answer someone you cannot see is not the logical response. Talking into thin air to words that feel like alien thoughts are not the sensible thing to do. Still, no one who ever heard a disembodied voice would do anything else. She was no different. “What, you believe it’s my potential, and you’ll give it to me if I do something insane or questionable in return?” 

_Spoken like a true servant of the law._ The voice smiled. She found it odd that a visual cue could be so audible. _Your concerns are rational. Everything has a price; and perhaps for someone else I might need a price paid, but our interests align. Protect the city, do your job, and I will count it payment to me. I am simply making you more capable- consider it a raise._

She sat down on her bed. “You’re afraid. Something is coming and you want me to stop it?”

 _Not it. Them._ It replied. It let her chew on those words. She looked back to her mirror. Even without holding the leaf she could see its reflection on her- and the shifting figures behind her. It seeded concern in her, which grew into concern for her city. With it, came doubt. The voice breathed peace over her. _Do not give into fear. See yourself for who you are; rise up to the challenge and protect your people._

“Why me?”

_Why not you?_

She took a deep breath. “What do I need to do?”


End file.
